These customs were not meant to fear death but to embrace it as we embrace life and more importantly remembering and honoring the dead.” “An important aspect of the celebration involves visits to graves sites to clean and decorate them. “The celebration revolves around the tradition of remembrance or honoring lost love ones,” Romero said. Many of the artists create Ofrendas (offerings or alters) commemorating the deceased and showcasing their favorite foods. Romero oversees the South Broadway Cultural Center, which puts on a Día de los Muertos art exhibition every year, showcasing local artists and their contributions to the tradition. “Día de los Muertos is about honoring family and the deceased, keeping their memories alive,” – Augustine Romero, South Broadway Cultural Center. 2), the spirits of those departed come back to visit the living – not as ghosts, but as family and community members returning to check on their loved ones. The basic belief is that on the night between All Saints Day (Nov. What was once a month long observance, is now an annual nightlong celebration. With the arrival of the Spanish the tradition blossomed into including Christian ideals in respect to the use of saints and other Christian objects,” explained Augustine Romero, Gallery Curator for the South Broadway Cultural Center in Albuquerque. “This tradition originated in Mexico was and practiced among indigenous peoples. It is been traced back to Aztec religious beliefs and the goddess Mictecacihuatl – “Lady of the Dead.” The tradition further developed along religious timelines when the Spanish introduced Roman Catholicism to Mexico, and is now celebrated across Latin America and in various ways around the world. It’s a circle of life that we recognize and instead of being sad which we know they wouldn’t want us to be, we rejoice and celebrate them as if they were standing next to us, holding our hands and drinking atole as we sing their favourite songs and dance as a family through the night.Local artist Jeremy Montoya's work on display at a past South Broadway Cultural Center Dia de los Muertos celebration.ĭía de los Muertos (Spanish for Day of the Dead) is a tradition that revolves around life and death, family and remembrance. Yet, on Dia De Los Muertos all of that changes and we celebrate their spirit for two wondrous, colourful and joyous days. To whom? To our loved ones: our deceased Abue who made the most authentic and perfectly shaped handmade tortillas with the greenest spiciest salsa de molcajete you’ve ever seen or tasted, the Abuelo whose lap you sat on watching El Chavo in the early morning curled up with your cobijita, your primo/a who you would fight with every single time you went to visit the family en el rancho but secretly admired because he had the greatest imagination, and lastly your family dog who your dad swore he would never get and in the end they became the best of friends - those meaningful people and animals who have passed whom we cannot hug or chat with any longer. Before we get into the simple way to set up an ofrenda, may I ask, do you know what an ofrenda is or what it means? Ofrenda may be just a word, but oh the meaning and the symbolism.
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